Concealed
by Isah Underhill
Summary: Emma's heart is conflicted after she had seen her magic flip out of her control and harm the ones she cared about. She decides to go to Regina for help but tonight might not be the best night to go inside that vault. Outlaw Queen, Emma's POV


**Hello everybody! In light of recent Once Upon a Time events I could not help but have a go in my own little version of what happened in the vault after the camera zoomed out. This is Emma's POV, which is completely new to me, but I found rather fun to do, it's very different from everything I've written so far.**

**So I hope you guys like it and be sure to drop in a review telling me what you think.**

Emma looked out at the view from inside her car.

_Storybrooke. Maine._

The streetlights and car headlamps mingled together due to the tears that swam in her vision, the droplets she refused to shed. Out there in a small flat meant for two – that was currently housing far too many people – sat her happy ending, the one she had wished for so many times when she was little. Her family.

_Home._

This town was the place where she had found the family she never thought was possible. Where she had been reunited with people she never thought she would ever see; her parents, and her son.

She was different; she had always known she was not the same as the other kids, that there was something that set her apart. Not only did she have her superpower – being helpful to work out whether the other foster kids or carers were lying or not - but deep inside, Emma always knew there was something more to it. Something brewing underneath the surface, something special. In her years in the system, the notion that she had something special was one of the few things that had kept her going as she moved from house to house, from family to family, most of them much more interested in the amount of money they would be getting for taking in another foster brat than actually desiring a child to love with all their hearts.

Ingrid's words cut through her. She had seen the mementos she made for Ingrid as a young girl, and everything had gone to shit. She did not remember anything about her time there, and yet, something warm invaded her heart when the Dairy Queen had told her about their time together. She secretly longed to remember, yearned to recall the time when there was a foster parent that actually cared for _her_.

But the Queen must have been lying, she must have. That wasn't the whole story; something terribly wrong must have happened. And that outweighed every longing thought she had about the family she once had with the Ice Queen Ingrid person.

_No, she was lying. You have all the family you need here! _

Her parents accepted her, loved her, just the way she was. It was her who had been the one reluctant to reciprocate their affections from the start. It was her who had been unable to forgive them for such a long time, and when she finally had, she was sent away – sans memories – to a fake life filled with treasured moments that were the stuff of dreams, and weren't even hers to begin with. Emma did not want to let go of the reality of having Henry all to herself, of having a normal life with a normal boyfriend – who actually turned out not so be so normal after all. But then she saw her mother die; she had watched helplessly as a woman with whom she had fought side by side, a woman who had saved the town over and over and not actually received much in the way of a 'thank you', incinerate her mother to ashes.

And everything had changed for Emma.

She finally lost what she had so ardently hoped for, and there was nothing she could do. The amount of desperation she felt could not be shed in a hundred buckets of tears.

Then she got her parents back, and she vowed never to let go; Storybrooke was her home, they were her family. And yet now-

Now she saw fear inside Snow's eyes. Twice she had been looked upon by her mother as if she was dangerous and unworthy of trust. Dread filled Emma's very essence. Snow was right to be afraid. Emma herself was terrified of herself; her magic was unpredictable and she could not control it. What if she had hurt somebody by mistake? What if she harmed Henry or, God forbid, poor, baby Neal? She could never live with the pain of having had caused harm to any of her loved ones.

Emma already felt awful about having harmed her father. The father she had always dreamed of; a good man, a friend, someone who was always there for her. And she had hurt him. That blow could have been fatal. That blow could have killed Hook if it was not for her father. The man who was always defending her, always helping her.

_God, I do not deserve them._

She had to stay away, had to hide out until she could think up something to do about controlling her powers, or even better, getting rid of them all together.

However, freeing herself from her magic did not sound right; it was already a big part of her. Magic already was a part of who she was.

She needed to yield it, she needed to control it and she needed help to do that.

_Magic is about emotion Miss Swan, _a voice whispered in her ear

_Regina!_

Of course! Why hadn't she thought of this before? Regina was just like her; she had magic, powerful magic, both dark and light. Plus Emma was pretty certain the woman knew only too well how it felt to be looked upon with fear. She had taught magic to her before, and she had recently said she did not want to kill her, so why not-

_But would Regina even want to help me?_

It was one thing for her not to want to instantly turn Emma into a pile of ashes, but another thing completely for her to actually be willing to help Emma out.

Perhaps it was a bad idea to seek Regina out in order to ask for favors, upon reflection Emma came to the conclusion that most people approached her with that objective in mind; they always wanted something from her.

Emma felt a pang in her chest when she remembered that it was because of her actions that one of the few people who actually did care about Regina was not in her life anymore.

Emma knew she should not have done it; she had watched her fair share of time travelling themed movies to know that you cannot interfere with the past. Nevertheless, at the time she could not leave that poor woman to the mercy of a very deranged Regina.

Emma would never breathe the confession that the woman Regina used to be had scared the living shit out of her. Not only because of her threats and powerful magic, but also because Emma knew she would stop at nothing; she was blinded by rage and revenge. And she had not raised her son yet, had not had time to believe in love and family again. She was not the Regina Emma came to meet three years ago in the civilized world.

Taking a deep breath, Emma brought her forehead to the wheel of her Bug. She could not do this alone and she did not want to sit around her car and mope. She would go to Regina, but she wouldn't be asking any favors; she just wanted to talk. She knew Regina would never look upon her with fear, no matter how out of control her magic might be.

Turning the key in the engine, Emma tried to snap out of her blue mood and drove into the night.

Her destination; Regina's vault.

She knew the woman had confined herself to spending most of her time in that creepy, underground maze trying to find a way to cure the freezing curse that had turned the woman Emma had rescued into a human popsicle.

_So much for helping the poor woman_ _out_, Emma mused, not only had she managed to ruin Regina's love life and returned the other woman to a man who did not love her anymore, but the woman in question got herself turned into an ice statue, with a curse nobody seemed to be able to undo. Maybe Emma should have left her to her doom inside that cell after all...

She reached the cemetery some time later, parking her car just outside the crypt that used to hide Regina's vault. Nowadays she did not even bother the lock the doors, let alone push the coffin back to hide the stairs that led into Regina's huge arsenal of magical objects and potions.

The place was dark and creepy. Emma may have had her fair share of being in dark creepy places, but there was something particularly scary about this one. It was ridiculous that it reminded her of the movie of Snow White and the room the Evil Queen brewed the apple, a place Emma had always found terrifying as a child. This one looked _just_ like it. Emma had to hold back a laugh, reasoning with herself that this was actually _it_.

Emma descended the stairs with precaution, fearing some sort of trap having being laid by the former Queen. When she reached the bottom of the stairs, she could see light, candle light, coming through one of the arches, and so Emma made her way towards it.

It was only when she was a couple of feet away from the stone opening that she heard it.

A moan.

_Was that Regina?_ Emma took a tentative step towards the light.

Emma listened harder and the sounds invaded her, she had been so wrapped up in her own problems that she had not been able to register the noises coming from the lit room she was heading to.

She heard Regina sigh and whimper, something Emma never thought she would _ever_ hear. But against all of the warning signs yelling at Emma to turn on her heel, head up those stairs, get in her bug and drive as fast as she could, all Emma could do was take another step.

Emma could make out the noises of heavily wandering hands and suckling kisses and Regina's voice, clear as day, moaning.

Had she brought a man down to her vault? That sounded extremely unlikely, but Emma had to remind herself that Regina did use Graham for almost 30 years as a pleasure toy. Why wouldn't she try to relieve herself in the company of another man after such heartbreak? It did sound possible after all. A realization which made Emma's head scream out even louder for her to simply leave Regina alone in her midnight rendezvous – or not alone, as it were.

However, curiosity got the best of her and Emma cautiously approached the opening of the arch, peering with utmost stealth at just what, exactly, was going on.

Her jaw dropped.

The scene unfolding in front of her shocked Emma, and yet somewhat relieved her too.

Regina was indeed engaged in a steamy make-out session, but her partner was none other than Robin Hood. One of his hands had a forceful, iron-grip on her hair, whilst the other was groping her ass in earnest. Regina's hands fervently ran across his back, nails scratching at the fabric of his vest. Their bodies were pressed to each other, seeming to want to annihilate all space between them as they kissed and kissed. Heated open-mouthed kisses, frantic, and full of promise.

Emma felt her cheeks go red, she could not move. She could not even manage to close her gaping mouth.

Their kisses seemed very fervent and hungry, as if they were never seeing each other again. They shifted on their feet together and stumbled a little, mouths still connected, unwilling to be parted for even a second. Robin brought his mouth to Regina's neck and the woman hissed as she tugged at his vest, quickly ridding him of it.

_I should not be seeing this._

"Robin," came a breathy whisper from Regina, and Emma was petrified in fear that the woman would snap her eyes open and spot her. In slight fear, Emma hid herself a little further behind the wall.

"Ah Regina-" Robin hummed against the flesh of her neck.

Surprisingly so, Regina brought her hands to his shoulders in order to put some distance between their bodies. Her eyes were open, and she was staring right at him. His hands held onto her elbows.

"Robin," her voice was raspy but certain; "we can't do this."

"Why not?" he asked, his expression torn between confusion and lust.

"Because-" she started taking a deep breath, "-aside from the fact that your wife's heart is still beating only two doors away -" she looked down, Emma could see tears starting to pool inside her ex nemesis' eyes, "- I can't do this." Her voice was now broken, the tears pooling in her eyes having a huge influence on her tone and whole demeanor.

"I can't be your love affair for this one night because you've tossed your honor to the side for now." The tears started running down her cheeks and Robin opened his mouth to try and speak but she lifted one of her hands before he could make a sound, "No, let me finish."

She drew herself away from his touch, shaking off his hands that had been gripping her elbows.

"I know you might think that I'm strong and can take any blow, and true; I've been through so many terrible things have come out the other side so much stronger. But Robin, with you -" more tears cascaded from her eyes and Robin looked on with an expression of utter helplessness "-I know I won't be able to take it when you go back to her. Whenever your honor decides to rule over your heart again. My heart and soul won't be able to take you abandoning me again. I just can't-"

Regina was crying now, openly and Emma felt like the worst human being in the world. One; she was listening into such a private conversation that she had no business eavesdropping on, and two; because she knew her actions were the reason why such heart breaking exchange was taking place.

"Regina-" It was a mere whisper from Robin as he tried to reach out for her, to comfort her.

"No," Regina drew away from his touch. "Please don't do this to me. Don't torture me with your tender words of love because they are only a painful reminder of what I can never have." She pleaded and Emma felt her heart clench, hurt and guilt washing over her.

More and more tears ran down Regina's cheeks, and Emma noticed for the first time that Robin was shedding his own set of silent salty droplets himself, unable to hold back as he listened to her devastating confession.

"Robin, I'm sorry but, a one night is not enough for me; it will break me. It will shatter me when-" she let out a loud sob, took a deep intake of air, whipped the tears from her face with both hands and tried to draw the painful conversation to a close with; "Please leave."

_What have I done?_

There was a silence as the couple stared at each other, Regina's lips turned into a fine line and Robin's mouth slightly opened.

"I'm sorry." Robin finally breathed out.

"Stop apologizing to me and just leave me alone." Regina said, having recovered a bit of her usual tone, her icy wall being rebuilt piece by piece.

"Regina I'm not sorry about _this_; I'm sorry about my wording," he clarified as he stepped inside her personal space again. "I should have reassured you, but instead it came out all wrong."

"What do you mean?" she asked, trying to take a step back but his right hand quickly rose to her elbow, keeping her in place.

"What I meant was-" Robin took a deep breath and took both her hands in his, "-today, and every day, for the rest of my life, will be days that I will choose you." Regina gasped, and Emma could see Robin's hands tightening around hers, "I love you Regina, and I cannot live without you. The very thought that I've caused you so much misery makes me want to claw my eyes out."

He brought one hand to cup her cheek, and Regina's face showed how extremely stupefied she was at his declaration. "Regina, when I'm with you I feel whole, I feel like I have finally found my home. I have never felt like this before with anybody, not even with Marian. We belong together, you and I, and I was such a fool to believe that I could ever live without you."

Robin's other hand came to cup her other cheek, using his thumbs to wipe away the tears that had descended freely from her eyes.

"But what about Marian?" she asked, her voice was so breathy and small Emma could hardly recognize it.

"Once she's unfrozen I'll come clean. I will tell her I cannot be with her whilst my heart belongs to another. It would not be fair to any of us." His thumbs stroked her cheeks as he gave her a small, comforting smile.

Regina opened her mouth to speak but seemed unable – and almost afraid – to do so, she took both the hands that cupped her face in her own, holding them. Then she finally said, in the smallest of voices; "Are you certain?"

There was so much fear; it poured out of every word she said.

Robin entwined his fingers with hers and reassured her; "Yes I am."

With their fingers still linked, he brought her body closer to his and rested his forehead to hers, "I will never leave you again." He screwed his eyes shut and tears fell from where they had clung to his eye-lashes, before lowering his voice as he vowed; "I swear."

Regina released a relieved breath mingled with a sob and wrapped her arms around him tight, hugging him whilst sobbing into his shirt. He quickly brought his arms to encircle her frame and rested his chin on the top of her head.

"Oh, Robin-" she cried freely now; she had been holding everything together, had been trying to stay strong in front of everyone else, her mother in her head saying '_crying is weakness in your eyes'_, but now the dam had burst and all the tears she had held back were flooding out. "-I have missed you so much!"

"And I you, my love," Robin replied, bringing his nose down to breathe in the scent of her hair, whispering; "so very much."

The only sound that reverberated throughout the vault was Regina's subsiding sobs. Emma still unable to move at all, incapable of drawing her eyes away from the couple she nearly split apart. This whole exchange had been rather overwhelming, especially when she had come to Regina with such a heavy heart in the first place. She hadn't thought that Regina's would be _that_ much heavier.

Regina's head rose from Robin's chest and they looked at each other for a second before her mouth was on his in a tender kiss. Regina hummed against his mouth and they tilted their heads, deepening their kiss, their embrace evolving from loving and gentle to hot and desperate; their hands seemed to be, once again, everywhere all at once.

Regina put the smallest of distances between them to order in a whisper; "Take me."

"Here?" Robin asked, "Wouldn't you rather go-"

"No, I want you Robin. I want you now." Her hands reached for his belt and unfastened the buckle with nimble hands.

_Oh no, no._

"Oh Regina," Robin groaned, kissing her fiercely and walking her blindly backwards whilst their tongues still danced together, until Regina's back hit the cold, stone wall of the chamber.

Robin grabbed the hem of Regina's dress and started to pull it up.

_I do not want to see this. I do not want to see this._

Emma was now able to see Regina's legs, ankle to thigh, up to the lacy, dark panties she was wearing as the woman fumbled with Robin's pants.

Emma was still frozen to the spot and felt desperate.

_I should not be seeing this. I should not be seeing this._

Thankfully, from her angle she was not able to see anything of Robin's that she shouldn't when Regina clearly pulled him free from the confines of his pants. But Emma only became more desperate when Regina was lifted and pinned to the wall as she wrapped both her legs around his waist.

_I gotta get out of here. I gotta get out of here._

Regina let out a broken moan of pleasure.

_Please help me get out of here._

Emma screwed her eyes shut praying to whatever high force there was above to help her move her limbs.

A cloud of white smoke engulfed Emma and she was transported away.

When Emma opened her eyes, she was standing in front of the door that led into the loft she shared with her mother, father, baby brother and newfound fairytale character friend. She could hear they were talking through the door; she could make out her mother's voice.

"I failed today David." Emma heard her say "I failed as a mother. My daughter was in distress and what did I do? I looked at her as if she was-" she stopped.

"We have to fix this." Her father's voice said, "We have to find her, let her know that we'll always be there for her, no matter what."

Emma reached for her keys. Putting them in the lock and turning.

She'd talk to Regina tomorrow – if she needed to.

But now?

Now, she was home.


End file.
